Oregon legislators allocated a large portion of the May forecast, the final estimates of money available to include in the 2007-09 biennium budget, to post-secondary education.
The revised Oregon Legislature Co-chairs’ budget allocated $77 million of the available $180.3 million to Oregon’s universities and community colleges – more than was previously expected. Speaker of the House Jeff Merkley said higher education funding is the House’s main priority for the remainder of the session.
The Oregon University System received another $15 million for its operating budget, which covers campus operations, faculty salaries and limited tuition and fee increases. Another $25 million will go to capital construction – erecting new buildings. The co-chairs also awarded $37 million to community colleges, $2 million of which is set aside for health care programs at the colleges.
While the money is an improvement from the previous Co-chairs’ budget, it still leaves the state about $113 million short of Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s Recommended Budget, which requested nearly $1.2 billion for the 2007-09 biennium.
OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner said the GRB is the minimum funding necessary for the OUS to reinvest in its students and universities after decades of disinvestment.
The revised Co-chairs’ budget did match Kulongoski’s base request for OUS, which amounts to nearly $41 million, but other areas were still cut short.
“There are some key programs that are still not funded in the revised budget … that are critical to students,” said Melissa Unger, Executive Director of the Oregon Student Association. Unger mentioned the Student Child Care Program, which Kulongoski budgeted at $1 million only to see it completely cut from the Co-chairs’ budget.
Sen. Kurt Schrader, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, reiterated a point the Co-chairs have made many times before: There simply isn’t enough money to meet the GRB. He said the co-chairs are concerned about the amount of debt Kulongoski’s budget would incur.
OSA has been a key organizer in lobbying for more state support of post-secondary education institutions. Since the initial Co-chairs’ budget was released in March, OSA has encouraged students, faculty and staff to travel to the Capitol to meet with legislators and communicate the importance of better funding. Both OSA representatives and Oregon legislators said the lobbying was effective.
“It always helps to have a face behind some of the needs,” said Schrader. “Frankly, it does make a difference. It makes more of a difference if we actually have money to back up what we want to do. When the Forecast came out looking good, we knew exactly where we had to put the money and that was higher education.”
Sen. Mary Nolan, committee co-chair, said in a press release the legislature has the responsibility to ensure sustained services for the state.
“Oregon students, businesses, workers and families are counting on high-quality services, and we’re going to deliver them,” said Nolan.
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Reinvesting in higher education
The revised Co-chairs’ budget allocated an additional $77 million to Oregon’s universities and community colleges.
The May Forecast, or the final estimates of money available to include in the 2007-09 biennium state budget, provided the legislature with $180.3 million to disperse.
In part because of strong student and faculty lobbying, Joint Ways and Means Committee co-chairs Mary Nolan and Kurt Schrader allocated about $40 million to the Oregon University System and about $37 million to community colleges.
The Co-chairs’ budget is still about $113 less than the original Governor’s Recommended Budget.